Current energy auditing services provided by service providers (e.g., Honeywell Utility Solutions) require an expert energy auditor. Other consumer applications (e.g., EcoInsight, Microsoft Hohm, Energy Audit mobile applications) require the user to manually input many pieces of information about their home. This information includes, but is not limited to, the specifications about the house structure, the home equipment (e.g., HVAC, hot water heater), doors, windows, appliances, lighting, and pools. If the homeowners do not know all of this information or lack the motivation to manually input it, then it is difficult for homeowners to perform an energy audit on their own.
Trained auditing professionals spend approximately 2-3 days per commercial site or 2 hours per residential site to perform an energy audit. This time is spent collecting data manually, using PC-based software or checklists, which makes the process inefficient and predisposed to errors. In addition, many of the energy characteristics are unknown and oftentimes estimated. For example, energy consumption information about a hot water heater would likely be estimated based on type and size rather accurately assessed based on make and model.
Presently, energy audits are typically done on a standalone system using spreadsheets, and then the information is transcribed into auditing software, which runs analytics to provide recommendations. This process is manual, intrusive, complicated and time consuming.